Bruins sign Rask to eight-year, $56 million deal

The Boston Bruins announced Wednesday they have signed goaltender Tuukka Rask to an eight-year contract worth $56 million, an average annual value of $7 million.

Rask last season had a 19-10-5 record with a goals-against average of 2.00, a .929 save percentage and five shutouts. He followed that by leading all goaltenders in save percentage (.940) during the Stanley Cup Playoffs while finishing fourth with a 1.88 GAA and tying for first with three shutouts.

The Bruins lost the Final in six games to the Chicago Blackhawks.

"That would be an ideal situation, I think, to play here forever," Rask said after the season ended. "I hope we can make that happen."

Rask set a club record with a home playoff shutout streak of 193:16, spanning from Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

In 2011-12, Rask appeared in 23 games, with an 11-8-3 record, 2.05 GAA and .929 save percentage. In 2009-10, Rask set a career high in wins (22) and led the NHL with a 1.97 GAA and .931 save percentage, becoming the first Bruins goaltender to have a GAA less than 2.00 since 1998-99. His GAA that season was the lowest by any Bruins goaltender since the 1938-39 season.

"I played good, proved [to] everyone again that I was capable of doing it," Rask said in June, according to The Associated Press. "I mean, you look at the numbers. They're good. If I just analyze my game and by how I felt throughout the year, I thought it was a great year."

In 138 NHL games, all with the Bruins, Rask has a 66-45-16 record with 16 shutouts, a 2.15 GAA and a .927 save percentage. He has appeared in 35 playoff games, with a 21-14 record, 2.15 GAA, .930 save percentage and three shutouts.

The Bruins acquired Rask, 26, from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for goaltender Andrew Raycroft on June 24, 2006. Rask was the Maple Leafs' first-round pick (No. 21) in the 2005 NHL Draft.